U.N. Zeroes In on Aid to Syria: Half the Country in Dire Need

Posted on Jan 15, 2014

Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheik Sabah Khalid Al Hamad Al Sabah, center, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon pose with other leaders before the opening session of the Syria Donors’ Conference at Bayan Palace in Kuwait on Wednesday. (AP/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

According to the United Nations, more than 100,000 people have died in Syria since the country began imploding in 2011. Now, starvation and displacement have affected millions of Syrians, and the U.N. is kicking into high gear to help.

The crisis in Syria was the focus for Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon during a visit Wednesday to Kuwait, where he drummed up some $2.4 billion to help the 9.3 million Syrians in serious need of aid, the BBC reported that day:

Mr Ban told the Kuwait conference the conflict had “set back Syria years, even decades” and that it was “vital for this region and our world that the burden is shared”.

Some 6.5 million people are now displaced inside Syria. More than 2.3 million have registered as refugees outside Syria, many living in camps across the region which are barely coping. There are reports of starvation in towns cut off by fighting.